Sinners' Bells
by Gallifrey Immigrant
Summary: The birds were dropping like raindrops from the sky. And they smelled of plague victims and death.


The birds were dropping like raindrops from the sky. And they smelled of plague victims and death.

It's been years since that horrific event. I do not remember as well as I once did, and some details in this account may have errors (besides, English is not my first language) . But by all that is holy, I remember the birds' stench.

Let me start from the beginning. I, John James Audobon, was sitting outside with a friend of mine, named Robert Whitt, discussing the recent earthquake, while sitting outside my house in Kentucky. Whitt was of the opinion that this earthquake was a message from God; as we had survived, it meant that He was blessing us, and we should take advantage of that luck. According to him, taking advantage meant "extreme financial pursuits."

I was not quite sure about the fortune Robert fervently believed, and though I was interested in any financial endeavors, something else occupied my thoughts at the moment. "Have thou seen the birds flying about lately? There's something different about the new ones."

"Hmm?" Robert, clearly slightly annoyed at my interruption, said, "You mean the ones with the white feathers and blue eyes? We've been seeing them since the earthquake. They seem rather docile."

"Any idea whither they came from?" I asked. "I've been here for some time now, and I hadn't seen them before the quake. But they're everywhere now." Whitt may have had a touch of avarice, but he had a keen eye, and wouldn't have missed them.

A small look of concern passed over Whitt's face. "I have no idea. Some of the local workers say that the birds are cursed. Obviously, that's superstition. I do agree, however, that those birds have a smart look about them. Occasionally, they let you pet them. Their feathers feel less like feathers and more like..."

"Like what?" I inquired.

Whitt frowned. "Like snake skin."

I was about to ask for more, when we were interrupted by footsteps coming toward us. Looking up, we saw that a young girl, around 12-13 years old, was walking toward us. She waved at us, and with an Irish accent, said "Hello, I'm the Doctor. What year is this?"

Whitt and I looked at each other, apparently both wondering if the other was playing an elaborate joke.

Whitt shook his head, and said "A doctor, eh? The year is 1813. Where's your parents, miss?"

"My parents? On a planet a long way and time from here. I haven't seen them in centuries." The girl looked wistful for a moment. "Haven't seen my grandchild, either."

That produced a laugh from both of us men, though the girl didn't seem to find it funny. "Grandchild! Oh, really? Well, who's thou husband?" I said.

"I have a wife," the girl said with a slight bit of anger in her voice.

"That's against the Bible," said Whitt, still laughing. However, I began to feel uneasy. Something was odd about this girl. She was dressed in an odd manner: a traditional children's cloak covering long yellow hair, except as red as fire, and what looked like a frock from the Far East covered her slender frame, colored in a lighter red, and embroidered in languages both readable and unreadable, including some I had never seen before. On her wrist were colored rings that barely made a sound, even when clanging together, and in her eyes was a cold look of steel that I had only seen in old battle-hardened soldiers.

At Whitt's words, a furious look came across the girl's elfin face" Primitive simi—wait. You said the year was 1812, yes? Ah, then it makes sense. " A cat-like grin, more unsettling than it had any right to be, settled on her face. "You poor apes. It took you so long to evolve. Sometimes, I think it's a wonder you ever grew out of the primordial soup."

By now, I was getting very worried. "Hello, my name is John James Audobon. You said you were a doctor. Doctor who?"

"Hello!" The girl, now smiling in a much more agreeable way, immediately changed moods. "Just the Doctor! Nice to meet you, Audobon!" Then her eyes went wide. " _The _Audobon! The man who studied birds! The forerunner of human ornithologists, from Earth all the way to the the last ornithologist ever known, Oxxxiaviartho! Finally, I meet a man of proper science here!" She held out her small hand, apparently wanting me to shake it.

Out of politeness, I shook it. She had a firmer grip than I expected. "Thank you, but thou must have me confused with someone else. I confess a certain affinity toward nature, and I have done some private work observing our flying friends, but I have never studied birds as a profession."

"I see. I must be a little earlier in your timeline then. I always just miss the big things, unless it's a revolt in France or something." The girl then looked in the air, as if trying to remember something. "I came to you gentlemen to ask a question. Let's see, the TARDIS picked up odd readings from around here...oh, that's what I wanted to say. Have you gentlemen seen or heard anything unusual lately?"

Whitt answered "Where have you been to not know of the earthquakes? Even if you missed the shaking, you couldn't have missed the collapsed homes along the way. I'm lucky I survived. That's why I plan to look into mining for-"

"So," interrupted the girl, "there was large seismic activity. Hm-mph. That doesn't explain the alien energy signals I picked up. Might be a clue, though." She then noticed one of the white birds. "What sort of birds are those?"

"Well, the miners call 'em sinners' bells. That's just superstition, though," Whitt said. "Say, who are you anyway? You haven't said your name, and to be honest, you have been rather annoying to us. I think you should tell-"

The girl, still not looking at Whitt, said "My apologies, I wasn't clear. I was asking the professional bird studier in the room, not the professional prattler. What do you make of these birds, Audobon?"

" I am not a professional bird studier," I reminded her. Nevertheless, I decided to examine the bird. The first noticeable part of the bird was the eye. In all other birds I had observed, the iris was in the center, of varying sizes depending on type of bird. But, this bird had the iris near the top of the eye. I looked at its feathers next—or what looked like feathers. For I saw no separation from one feather to another—it all looked like one smooth skin. It was unlike any other bird I had ever seen. I wanted to feel the bird's feathers, and compare its texture to other birds, but I didn't want the bird to get scared from my touch, and to fly away while chirping to its mates. Then another thought occurred to me—in all the days of these birds flying around me, I had never once heard them sing.

"Their feathers are so clean." said the girl quietly, breaking me from my reverie. She was waving some form of curious metal contraption at the bird.

I smiled at the girl's remark. Children can notice the littlest things.

"Too clean," she said.

Puzzled, I looked around at the other birds' feathers. All of their white feathers were clean. Not one blemish on any feather. The bluejays, the sparrows, and the rest—all of them had little smudges here and there. But the sinners' bells were immaculate, no matter how dirty their surroundings were.

Even Whitt was worried. "That doesn't make sense. How could their feathers look exactly the same?"

"Except for the irises," said the girl. "Which they couldn't cover without blinding themselves."

"What are you trying to say?" I said. "That they're in some sort of mask?"

"These birds have been around since the earthquake, correct?" she asked.

"A day before the earthquake, I never saw them at all. Seven days later, I saw them everywhere." said Whitt..

The girl immediately began to turn around run down into the distance, her red cloak billowing behind her. "Wait, where are you going?" I asked her.

"To find out more about this earthquake . I fear the aftershocks have only just begun," she said.

Over the next few days, I looked out for the girl, but could not find her. Whitt told me not to concern myself about it. "Those Irish people are always doing something strange. She was probably some uneducated waif with flights of fancy," he said with cheer on his face. Nevertheless, I detected an undercurrent of worry on his countenance. I decided not to press the concern further, and chose to cast my mind on more important matters. I was planning yet another of my marches into the wilderness, in order to make drawings of some of the fauna there. I always enjoyed these trips, but this one would be even dearer to my heart, for my beautiful wife, Lucy, was coming along. I have been blessed with a mate who has a keen mind, and she has often been a supporter of my endeavors. (Our children was away with a friend, so we had time to explore.) As I fell asleep next to her, anticipating the next day's aforementioned trip, I prepared to wake up to a sunny sky with the beautiful sounds of birds in my ear.

When I woke up, however, there was no sun out. Indeed, the clouds so obscured the light that I nearly confused it with dusk, and the ground looked black in the shade. And the world was oddly silent. I went outside, and noticed that people were standing in the road, looking at the sky. At first, I saw nothing unusual up there. Then, I heard a loud squelching sound, like wet dirt being crushed. The sound came again and again.

"Look!" said a bystander. "There's black things dropping from the sky. "

He was right. I inspected one of the objects, and was nauseated when I saw it was the body of a dead bird. Taking another look at the ground, I realized that the ground wasn't black due to the shade—it was black due to the countless avian carcasses. The stench from them filled my nostrils and made me nearly run back into my house, while the consecutive wet thuds of falling birds continued all around me.

I stopped myself from running, when I realized two things. One, Lucy was nowhere to be found. I had not seen her in the house, and had no idea where she would be. Two,within the carcass in front of me, there was something...moving. The black slime that covered the ground was now moving out of the carcasses.

Screams broke out suddenly. I looked up to see people backing away from someone. This black mass was apparently moving toward the man. He tried to run, but soon the black mass began to overcome him, and all I saw was the mass covering his terror-filled face. Soon, other people began to be attacked. I turned to my home, but saw the mass invading my house and rushing toward me. I ran as fast as I could, desperately searching for my Lucy. As I dodged and weaved my way through the streets, I noticed that the mass did not attack the sick or elderly. This did not mean the mass was benevolent though; any able-bodied child was quickly covered in this evil tar.

I turned yet another corner—and ran into a dead end. Behind me, I could hear the slipping sound of the muck and I began to pray in my last moments that Lucy was safe.

My prayers were interrupted by a loud mechanical sound. I turned around to see the young Irish girl from before waving around the same metal wand I had seen in her hands at that time. The black tar rushed away from the wand, like a vampire seeing the Bible. Most adults would have been terrified beyond sense by the blackness, but the girl's face only showed deep concentration. It reminded me of soldiers in wars, who knew what they were doing was so dangerous that they couldn't allow themselves to even feel fear. Soon, the tar had left us, probably to pick on easier prey.

After checking for any more signs of the mass, the girl looked at me., and with an almost irreverent casualness, asked "How are you feeling, Mr. Audobon? Do you have any of that alien on you?"

"I'm fine. Thank thou for saving my life. We need to find shelter quickly." I asked.

"Shelter won't help us. Actually, Audobon, I'm going to need your help. I'll explain along the way," she said, walking away. I stood, still slightly stunned at the rapid turn of events. "Well, come along!" she continued. "We don't have time to spare. The more we wait, the more people will die."

After I caught up with the rather fast girl, I inquired where she had been these past days. " After I left you and your annoying companion, I began researching on the earthquake. Something felt wrong about those birds—for one, my TARD—my book collection had no history on that species of bird. Which indicated it was an invading species. "

"Smuggled to us from a trading ship?," I conjectured. (I silently noticed that there was no tar following us. Maybe they were scared away?)

"No. Well, maybe. But the trading ship is a little bit farther away then you would be expecting. I believe that this species is from an alien planet, and that they were trapped underground somehow. The aliens could have arrived during the Earth's early development, and was trapped when the crust cooled. Or maybe they just fell into a really deep ditch."

I couldn't understand all of what she said, but with what I had seen today, the idea of alien fauna was not so surprising. "So when the earthquake happened, the ground broke...and that's why the birds showed up." She nodded. "What does this have to do with the muck on the ground?"

"I think it's a clue. I just need to confirm...ah, here we go." She walked over to a body. I recognized it as a horse riding buddy named Elmer Jones, a tanned fellow who liked the outdoors almost as much as me. His skin was extremely pale, but no sign of the tar was on him. Elated to find out he was safe, I reached out to wake him.

"No, wait-" the girl said.

"Jones, thou must wake up!" When I touched his skin, black sludge poured out of his mouth and nose, and his eyes flew open with a lifeless stare.

"It's what I feared," she said quietly, as I held back a mixture of nausea and tears. "If we go quickly, we can still save him. Come on, let's go. "

I followed her lead. "What's going on?" I asked as we walked. I felt pathetic asking the girl, but her head seemed more clear than mine was at this moment.

"That tar isn't tar—it's a sentient alien mold. When you're a sludgy thing, and you've just awakened on a new planet, who wouldn't want to wear new clothes?. The problem being of course, that there was already something living in the skins they've bought off the rack. First, they started with the birds. I guess a sparrow's body just couldn't survive the deterioration of housing a completely different organism. Now those aliens want to move on to an even better skin.." She looked back at me. "Did you see your friend Elmer's face, right before you touched him?"

"It was pale...like the birds." A horrific realization struck me. "They're going to possess us!"

"Not if we stop them. Ah, here we are." She nodded at a congregation of people ahead, looking at a speaker on a stage . "You see, after a group of visitors buy new clothes, they're going to want to compare the purchases."

"Will thy metal wand be enough to fight them all?" From my count of the crowd, they had taken over a quarter of the town.

"My sonic screwdriver? No, though it's a part of the solution. I have a plan, but I need you to distract them. " The fear I felt must have shown on my face, because she quickly reassured me: "They'll consider you a good potential host, so they won't hurt you. At least not physically. Whatever you do, don't let the tar touch you." And with that, she was off, and I was alone against a group of skin-walkers.

The speaker on the stage seemed to be the leader, and I noted from his clothing was probably a beggar's body . Apparently, these creatures did not care where they got their skins from. He walked across the floor, waved his hands to and fro (though jerkily) , even moved his mouth, but no sound was coming out. Nevertheless, the audience was smiling or frowning at his silent mockery of human speaking, and being equally quiet. It was very surreal.

Seeing no other way to cause a distraction, I shouted "No, I disagree with that point!"

I do not how it is possible for a room that already silent, to get even quieter, but it did. All of the skin walkers turned to look at me. With no idea what to do, I waved. "Hello, everyone.""

I saw the speaker open and close his move, with a frustrated expression on his face. He was trying to talk.

"Excuse him, please," said a familiar voice. "He hasn't quite mastered our new vocal cords."

I turned to see Whitt smiling behind me. He had the same perfect white skin of the sinners' bells that had fallen from the sky, as well as the piercing blue eyes. Black liquid stained the edges of his mouth and nostrils. "How's it been, Audobon? I'm surprised we missed you in the conversion."

"Thou isn't not Whitt. Thou's just an impostor," I snarled.

"Impostor! We were under the ground for so long. While you animals went about your day, killing and helping each other, we were lost in the darkness, subject to either blistering heat of freezing coldness depending on what your planet felt like doing that particular millenium. When we finally couldn't take it any more, we came together, and decided to push just a little. And then that darkness broke just enough for us to leave out. We think you're wrong for saying we don't deserve this freedom," said the monster with Whitt's skin.

"For one, thy little "push" caused deaths to many, and damage to countless others' lives," I said. "And you are stealing people's bodies without them knowing. What's your excuse?" Honestly, I had no desire in my mind for their justification, but I needed to buy the girl time.

" The hosts' consciousness doesn't die—they just remain dormant. We make their bodies cleaner, faster, stronger. They're happy inside. It's a perfect symbiosis."

"Were the birds who dropped dead from the sky not too long ago also "happy"?" I asked.

The alien frowned. "Casualties happen. But if you join us, you'll understand."

"I refuse," I said unwaveringly.

"We do not need your consent. Nor does your mind need to survive the conversion," he said, as the crowd moved in on me. As I backed away, I saw the black mass crawling out of the boards of the stage.

"Attention, everyone.!"

The crowd stopped their advance to look at the girl jumping up and down on the stage.

"Who?"said the not-Whitt.

"Oh, me?" The girl made an exaggerated face of surprise. "I'm only the neighborhood friendly Doctor. And I'm here to protect the people of this planet from what appears to be a terrible infection. Fine, so maybe your species was locked down in the crust without any books or other people to talk to. After several millenia of that, even I might just cause a little earthquake to get out...wait, no I wouldn't. But hurting other innocent creatures ,and taking their bodies, is wrong. Especially when this isn't the first time. Isn't that right, Elaions?"

"How do you know our names!" said the speaker in surprise.

"Oh, having a Victorian Silurian on the metaphorical speed-dial has its benefits. Though I had to spend half an hour convincing her that I was not a random little girl doing a prank." She shook her head. "Anyway, she told me the Silurians had found your kind crawling around the surface. You nearly took over the community, and they trapped you in the crust as a final solution. Your kind was so virulent, that even when the Silurians fought humans, they never once released you as a weapon, because you were just too destructive." She hopped off the stage, waving her wand around lazily while the tar shrunk away in terror. " Sooo, you've got two choices. Let go of these bodies, and I'll take you to another uninhabited planet. I think Pluto's free. If you act good, maybe I'll come and see if I can find another species willing to take you."

"Or?"

"I kill any of you that doesn't take the first choice," she said with a sweet smile, pulling out what looked like a small silver bow from inside her frock. "Your decision."

The speaker made a sound that, even being made by someone who was unused to vocal cords, was clearly a laugh. "Big words for small girl! Even if you can back it up,you can't hurt us without hurting our hosts. "

"Good point," she said. She seemed to ponder this for a second. Then she pointed her bow at him, and fired what looked like electricity at his chest. The speaker dropped to the ground, black ooze pouring ut of his ajar mouth.

"Who...are you?!" someone in the crowd cried out.

"I already answered that," she said in an annoyed tone. "I'm the Oncoming Storm. I'm what bullies who prey on the innocent cower from. I'm the stone that kills Goliath, and the reckoning for monsters like you. I'm the Doctor. " Her statements would have sounded ridiculous, except for the dead body at her feet. "Anyone else want to try and question me?"

The crowd rushed her. "Doctor!" I shouted out. Some of the aliens noticed me, and ran towards me, apparently no longer caring about not hurting a potential host. Having been in quite a few fights myself, I blocked their blows and defended myself well. They may have made their hosts stronger, but strength counts for naught if one is unused to manipulating the human muscles. With all my attackers repelled, I looked around for the Doctor. Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice.

"James! Help!" said a voice that could only be Lucy. I saw, near the stage, Lucy being held down by several of the aliens. With all my speed, I ran to where she was and threw the aliens off her.

"Thank you! I left the house early, and hid when the aliens came around. I heard your voice and came here," Lucy said while embracing me, tears welling up in her piercing blue eyes.

"It's alright, love," I said, returning the embrace. She continued to hold me for a long time. In the side of my vision, I saw the blackness creep from the stage towards us. "We have to move, Lucy," I said , while trying to wrest myself from her strong grip. Being both angry and confused, I looked into her blue eyes, and realized what was going on as I felt the black muck creep up my leg. "May you creatures burn in hell for taking my wife."

"Don't worry," it said, forming a grin with Lucy's mouth while the sulphorous smell of the muck reached my nose. "You'll be with us soon, anyway."

Suddenly a loud whirring sound filled my ears as not-Lucy released me. "Hello Audobon!" said the Doctor , standing behind me and pointing the screwdriver at the alien. "Surprised to see me? Being short has its advantages when dodging a crowd, you know."

"You'll have to kill Lucy like you killed that other man, right?" I said, despondent.

"Me, kill someone?" She looked offended. "Nah, at least not without exhausting other alternatives. I shot an electric stunner at him and just missed his heart. He'll survive. And this screwdriver is just producing at a frequency that upsets the gelatinous mixture the Elaoin are made of. Like so." She pointed her screwdriver to the sky and the sound started up again. The people in the crowd began contorting in pain..

She stopped the wand's noise, and the crowd looked at her. "Got your attention again! Good. Okay, last chance to surrender. Resist, and it's the end of your time on Earth. "

Surprisingly, a few aliens seemed to accept the surrender. The Doctor seemed relieved at this, and motioned them to walk toward her. They stood behind us. "Any other people want to be sensible today?"

No one else volunteered, so she shrugged. "Alright, don't say I didn't warn you," she said as she took out her bow. She was about to use it, and then one of the surrendering aliens took the screwdriver and bow out of her hand and ran. "Attack those two and the traitors!" the escaping Elaoin screamed to the crowd.

Both I and the "traitor" aliens prepared for a bloody fight, but the Doctor simply smoothed out her frock, reached into her cloak, and pulled out another screwdriver from hiding. "I liked that screwdriver," she muttered, raising the wand to the sky, and producing an even louder noise.

At first, nothing happened. Then it began to rain.

"Put these over your head," she said to the aliens on our side, producing coverings from her frock (exactly how she fit all those objects in her frock, I'll never know).

Screams resounded from the crowd. I was surprised to see the aliens running for their lives.

"Don't bother looking for cover. I engineered this solution to pass through almost anything. It's even in the ground. Within the hour, the liquid will saturate so deep and so thoroughly, every water source in the world will have it," the Doctor said. The fire in her expression made me realize that, improbably, this was not the first time she'd done this sort of thing. " It's an antidote to your kind I cooked up. Once I had set up locators at the stage and other places, it was easy to use the clouds to deliver the cure. You feel that burning feeling? Like your mind is melting—and technically, it is? Remember that, the next time you decide to invade a innocent species. I'll be there, and I'll destroy you down to the last Elaoin."

She pointed her wand to the sky, and the rain stopped. "All of you have 1 minute to leave your hosts, or I won't stop till every single one of your kind is dead all across the universe."

The aliens in the crowd surrendered unanimously.

The next day, the sun was shining bright. Many people remembered some version of the events before, but most thought it was a dream. I was afraid Whitt would take it harshly, but to my surprise, he took it rather well. Actually, he was happier than ever.

"Having survived two calamities, we have almost certain proof of God's blessings for us!" he said. "I tell you, we will be rich soon!"

I simply laughed at his mirth. My wife Lucy, on the other hand, was scared and embarrassed. "That alien used my body to nearly let you be taken over! I'm so sorry," she said, looking at me with her beautiful _gray_ eyes.

I always reminded her that it was the alien taking over her who did that, not her. Eventually, she relaxed about it, and so did the rest of the town. A few days later, the Doctor showed up at my door.

"Come with me!" she said, her wrist bangles jangling as she moved side to side in impatience. "I've got something to show you."

"What is it?" I said, walking alongside her.

"Well, it's a surprise, so I can't say!" she said, grinning. It was hard to reconcile the giggling little girl in front of me with the alien who was willing to show no mercy yesterday.

Changing the subject, I asked where she put the Elaoin. "Somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy They'll be comfortable. " she said. By now, I was used to getting strange answers from her. Up ahead was a curious blue box.

"You know, that antidote only lasts for 4 hours. If they had actually tested my "stays in the Earth for all eternity" spiel, we may have been in trouble . OK, here we are." She looked up at me. "I know as professional bird scientist, you must be sad about the birds that died." I nodded, and was about to remind her that I was not a professional bird scientist, when she continued, "Well, I was concerned too. So , I took a precaution. I'm going to show you, but first, here's a warning:. You should probably bend down, and cover your head." And, with standing on her tip-toes, (and muttering something about "disadvantages of new bodies"), she opened the box.

Out came birds. Sparrows, hawks, eagles, bluejays. They came out, and their beautiful songs mingled together as they flew to the sky. Others, like the ducks, waddled out on the ground. My eyes could not believe that many birds could fit in that box. Their majestic wings covered the sky.

With tears in my eyes, I hugged the girl. "You saved them! I thought they had been taken over!"

"I saved as many as I could. The biosystem will take care of the rest." She extracted herself from my hug, and looked up at me with her striking gray eyes. " You did very good, Audobon. Distracting the Elaoin was extremely dangerous, and you had to trust a little girl at that. If you want, you and your wife can travel with me. I'd greatly enjoy your company, " she said.

"I am greatly honored, but no," I said. "I have so much to see here. And my children are returning here soon. I can't travel now."

"Very well," she said. "You probably don't want to travel with a young girl anyway."

"You're not really a little girl, are you Doctor?" I said with a smile.

The Doctor's eyes twinkled, as a smirk crept up her elfin face. "Here's a clue: yes in a certain way of looking at it, no in other ways." She walked inside her box, which looked impossibly spacious. "And now I leave you with one final surprise. Goodbye, John James Audobon. We will probably meet again, though I may look very different." Waving, she closed the doors with a hard shove. And with a tearing sound, the box...no. I won't put that in the record. No one would believe it...


End file.
